A Clark County man sentenced to more than 24 years in prison in the near-fatal beating last year of a cross-country skier at Dougan Falls is expected to stand trial next month on charges relating to the case.
This time, the charges relate to allegations that Michael D. Collins, 35, took his son, Teven, in violation of a custody order, before the father-son duo brutally beat Kevin Tracey on Feb. 9, 2009, on a snowy path in western Skamania County. Michael Collins is also accused of making threatening phone calls to Teven Collins’ mother after she reported her son missing to police in 2009.
Michael Collins also is accused of failure to register as a sex offender.
Trial in Clark County Superior Court is scheduled for July 12.
Together with the custodial interference, intimidating a witness and telephone harassment charges, convictions could mean up to 16 more years in prison for Michael Collins, said Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey. That’s because his extensive criminal history could potentially boost the sentencing range.
On the other hand, a judge could decide to run potential prison time concurrent to his current sentence, Harvey added.
Michael Collins was convicted Feb. 24 of first-degree attempted murder and robbery by a Skamania County Superior Court jury.
Testimony in the three-day trial indicated he and his son — after running out of food while camping — plotted to confront and rob a skier. They then planned to kill the skier, so as to not leave a witness.
After Tracey was clubbed, choked and left for dead, three hikers found him and called for help.
Michael and Teven Collins, then 16, were later arrested in Ensenada, Mexico, after being featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.”
A few weeks after the attack, Teven Collins’ mother, Anna Logan of Washougal, had reported her son as a missing runaway, according to court documents.
She said that she had sent Teven to live with his grandparents in Montana but soon discovered he had disappeared and reunited with his Vancouver-area father, who was allowed only limited visitation rights.
The week before his father’s trial, Teven Collins pleaded to second-degree attempted murder in exchange for his testimony against his father. He received eight years in prison.
At the conclusion of the Skamania County case, prosecutors in Clark County decided to press on with the custodial interference case, which they had filed last spring.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
